The Regional Medical Center at Memphis has launched a new ad campaign to "reawaken" its brand and change patients' minds when they wake up at the hospital.

A series of three television ads started running about a week ago. Quick-paced and dramatic music pushes medical teams through high-pressure trauma situations in two of the ads. The other plays sweet and tender as a mother and doctor fawn over a newborn baby. Billboards around Memphis mirror the TV spots.

"It's more than just the hospital where people go if they got shot overnight."

The ads come after a "quiet period" for The Med as Coopwood aimed to reduce the hospital's media profile, which was pronounced and largely negative in the era of its financial troubles before his arrival nearly three years ago.

A company's public image has to be maintained on a regular basis, said Doug Carpenter, principal at Memphis advertising and public relations firm Doug Carpenter & Associates. It's especially important, he said, in a time of positive change.

"The Med is a ridiculously huge and valuable asset to our community and our economy," Carpenter said. "As they evolve, it is critical to let people know how they are growing and advancing as they move forward."

In the quiet period, the hospital building was spruced up outside with fresh coats of paint and landscaping. Inside, waiting rooms were renovated and all patient rooms were made private. Employees were trained to be friendlier and more professional. Those who refused to get on board were fired and "quite a few people lost their jobs because they didn't think we were serious," Coopwood said.

Services also were added to attract better-paying patients for elective procedures, those surgeries not requiring a quick ride to the hospital in an ambulance from the scene of a car accident or shooting.

Yes, The Med is good at treating trauma patients, Coopwood said, but many would transfer immediately to another hospital when they woke up and realized where they were. And this, he said, was an insult.

"If we are good enough to save your life, then we have to be good enough to see you through your whole process (of care)," Coopwood said. "But millions of dollars over the years were probably lost because of transferring patients."

More television ads will follow the first batch and they'll be targeted at telling potential customers what else the Med is good at, Coopwood said.

The hospital has also been working to change more than perception in the last few months with big moves to make way for the future of its Downtown campus and beyond.

The hospital is in the midst of a $32.4 million renovation and construction plan to finish out three floors of turner Tower and to expand the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center. It has also closed on property near its campus for temporary office space to ready the Adams Building for demolition, which would make way for a new women and children's tower on the corner of Jefferson and Dunlap.

The hospital also closed last year on the $3.4 million purchase of 49 acres at the corner of Bill Morris Parkway and Kirby for a new East Memphis outpatient location.